Original Meaning
God Who Is Known in Zion (76:1–3)
THE FIRST THREE VERSES OF PSALM 76 make three statements of faith that set the tone for the song as a whole. First, the psalmist reminds his readers that God is not distant; rather, he has revealed himself to his people (v. 1). Second, regardless of the geographic location of the exiled people, God himself still dwells in Zion (v. 2)! That reality remains undiminished by the people’s plight. And third, Israel’s God is presented as the one who ends wars—the one who is always able to quell the warmongering of men (v. 3).
God is renowned in Judah. In different ways, Psalms 73 and 74 reflect on questions of the hiddenness of God. Individually in Psalm 73 and corporately in Psalm 74, the poets question the hiddenness of God in the midst of their distress. These reflections center on the thorny issue of what Luther describes as the deus absconditus—the hidden God. Psalm 76 continues the response begun in the preceding psalm by reminding the readers that their God, in fact, is not the deus absconditus, he is rather the deus revelatus—the God who reveals. Yahweh is known to his people, and this revelation of his awesome character remains an established fact regardless of all variations in the present circumstances of those who meditate on this psalm. The passive verb that in the NIV is translated “renowned” (noda‘) can also be translated “has revealed himself.” God has revealed his true character to his people. So, continuing the response to the lament of Psalm 74, the psalmist reminds God’s people that those who draw conclusions from historical events alone are inclined to arrive at the wrong conclusion (as in Ps 74:10, 22). Israel’s God may appear to have been defeated when Jerusalem fell to the armies of Babylon, but the Creator God has spoken of his true nature, and this word of revelation remains untainted by the appearances of historical events. Here in Psalm 76, therefore, the psalmist says, “in Israel his name is great” (v. 1b). For the community of faith, for those who believe in divine revelation despite temporal appearances, Yahweh is still the Great One! His revealed character points to one who remains in complete control regardless of what others may think. God’s people are to base their knowledge of him on his spoken word rather than on their apprehension of their current experience.
His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. The psalmist’s response to the exile and to the lament of Psalm 74 continues in his bold assertion that Yahweh still dwells in Jerusalem on Mount Zion! It is the people who have been displaced, not Yahweh. The temple may have been destroyed, but the spiritual reality of God’s chosen place of dwelling continues regardless. Just as Psalm 76:1 points to the revealed character of God that remains unchanged, so verse 2 proclaims that Yahweh’s chosen place of “dwelling” on earth remains unchanged. The people have been taken into exile as part of his plan to bring about their repentance (Ps 75), but Yahweh has not been exiled. His greatness remains unchanged, and his choice of dwelling place remains unchanged.
There he broke the flashing arrows. God’s greatness is unaffected by historical events; God’s dwelling place remains unchanged despite the exile of his people; and third, the community of faith is reminded that their God is the one who brings an end to all wars, the implication being that God has nothing to fear from the axes and destruction of the armies of Psalm 74:4–8. The mention that he has previously brought wars to an end in Jerusalem (Ps 76:3) is probably a reference to the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, during the reign of Hezekiah around 701 BCE (see 2 Kgs 18–19). The point the psalmist makes to the exiled people of God in response to Psalm 74’s lament is that Yahweh has previously turned powerful armies away from the gates of Jerusalem, and, had he wished to do so, he could have done the same in their case. Their circumstances have not come about through weakness or inability on God’s part—he shatters the weapons of war! Their present reality is part of his design for their restoration.
Bridging Contexts
THE WARRIOR GOD. An image with which we are relatively unfamiliar in contemporary Christianity is the picture of God as the Warrior-Judge—a picture we see in Ps 76 and in other parts of the Old Testament.17
How does this square with the presentation of God as loving Father in the New Testament? We should be careful not to misrepresent God in one way or the other; rather, we should view his full character as it is represented in both of the Testaments. It has become a popular caricature that the God of the Old Testament is angry, judging, and war-like, whereas the God of the New Testament is peace-loving, gentle, and full of grace. Psalm 76, along with many passages of the Scriptures (in both the Old and New Testaments), testifies to the fact that both images of God faithfully reflect aspects of his character and being. The fact of the matter is that God is both Judge and Father—he is presented as such in the Old Testament, and his nature remains so in the New Testament.
A god who does not or cannot judge is not much of a god. Equally, a god who judges capriciously and out of spite is not to be trusted. In Psalm 76, however, the poet paints a picture of Israel’s God as the one who acts decisively in power when needed (vv. 3–10) but also as the God who meets with his people and dwells with them (vv. 1–2). He is the one who brings peace (vv. 3, 8) and justice to the afflicted (v. 9) and who expands his community of blessing to all who acknowledge him, regardless of their starting point (v. 10).
Why would we worship a god who did not care for the weak and oppressed? Why would we follow a god who was impotent to bring about his right purposes? If we are often appalled by the events we see around us, how much more is God horrified by these injustices? What sort of god would he be were he unable or unwilling to rectify wrongs? In a world that is often full of wickedness and oppression of the worst kind, the God who has revealed himself in the Scriptures sometimes breaks into our historical experience in warrior-like power in order to bring an end to abuse. Psalm 76 shows God as being lion-like in power, capable of bringing all violence to an abrupt end. The psalm, however, also shows that his aim in every display of power is the restoration of justice and right order to the earth. Why would we worship any other kind of god?
Psalm 76 in the New Testament. There are no direct citations from Ps 76 in the New Testament; however, the book of Revelation throws up a number of interesting images that bear striking similarity to the language and theology of this poem. Perhaps the most striking of these allusions is John’s reference to Jesus as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5). Just as Yahweh is presented as a lion-like Warrior-Judge, so the elders standing before God’s throne in heaven proclaim Jesus to be the lion of Judah who has triumphed and who holds the eternal destiny of humankind in his hands. The surprise factor, of course, is that when John looks to see this triumphant lion he actually sees a sacrificed lamb standing in the center of the throne (Rev 5:6). Once again, the New Testament uses Old Testament imagery to equate Jesus with Israel’s God. Just as Yahweh is the leonine victor of Psalm 76, so Jesus is also “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”—victorious in power even though that power was ultimately expressed in self-sacrifice. The book of Revelation also, however, points to the day when the Lion’s power will be displayed in judgment (Rev 6).
The other interesting connection between Psalm 76 and the close of the New Testament is the question of the incorporation of the nations into the worshiping community of Israel. If we follow the NIV footnote to verse 10, we see that human rebellion ultimately serves God’s purposes and results in the inclusion of a remnant of these “rebels” into the community of those who worship God. What is more, the psalmist repeatedly draws our attention to his presentation of God as the awesome, majestic King who is feared by the whole of the created order (vv. 4, 7–8, 11–12). It is interesting to compare Psalm 76’s presentation of Yahweh dwelling in Jerusalem in might and power with John’s presentation of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21–22. Psalm 76:11–12 presents the princes and leaders of the nations as making offerings of allegiance to Yahweh because of his indisputable power. The psalm closes with the words, “he is feared by the kings of the earth,” and we see an interesting parallel in the imagery of the New Jerusalem as a temple-city—“The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it” (Rev 21:24). Psalm 76 alludes to a day when Yahweh’s unquestionable authority leads the world’s powerbrokers to offer their allegiance to him. Revelation 21–22 points to the fulfillment of this imagery in the aftermath of the outworking of God’s final judgment on humanity.
Contemporary Significance
IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING. One of the key lessons from Psalm 76 is the importance of remembering God’s works in the past as we consider the challenges we face in the present. As we have charted the connections between Psalms 74–76, it has become apparent that Psalm 76 speaks in response to the crisis of the Babylonian exile. One element of the psalmist’s response to Israel’s present plight is to direct the people’s attention to God’s remarkable work of salvation in the past. Previously, God had miraculously relieved a siege of Jerusalem when the Assyrians attacked (2 Kgs 18–19), and the point of the psalmist’s reminder is quite simple: God had saved Jerusalem from an impossibly powerful military attack once before, and he is perfectly capable of doing so again; therefore, the fact that he stayed his hand in the present must be part of his purposes for his people. The reminder of God’s work in the past was designed to have an impact on the worshiping community’s perception of their present circumstances. The practice of remembering is a repeated theme in the Psalter and is one of the central ideas of Psalm 77, so we will consider the importance of remembrance in the life of faith as part of our discussion of the next psalm.
Christus Victor. “Christians using this psalm will think of Christus Victor, whose defeat of the powers of sin and death deepens hope in the sovereign God.”18
Psalm 76’s imagery of God as a lion-like Warrior defeating the enemies of his people has been a picture of great encouragement for many generations of faith. It remains so for us today. As James Mays suggests in the above quotation, the absolute victory of God grants us great assurance as people who still struggle with the effects of sin in our lives. It is important for us to realize that our continuing struggle with sin is waged not from a position of human weakness but from a position of divine power. The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:13–15:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Just as God’s victory over the Assyrians demonstrated his undeniably great power over all of the created order, so Christ’s victory over the powers of sin and Satan provides us with an unshakable salvation. Yes, we still struggle with sin, but our struggle is from the position of ultimate victory rather than from a position of weakness and defeat. Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers of evil that would keep us from coming to God—he triumphed over them by the cross. All such powers have been totally vanquished, and Christians today must remember that truth in our quest for holiness. The God who provides salvation for the oppressed (Ps 76:9) has provided just such a release for all those who find faith in Christ. Day by day it is important to remind ourselves that our struggle with temptation and sin is one in which victory has already been secured. In many ways, this victory over temptation comes down to a question of attitude. Often, due to our repeated failures, we feel weak in our struggle with temptation. Psalm 76 reminds us that the God whom we follow is the Warrior-Judge—the Lion springing forth from his lair—who destroys his people’s enemies and provides release from oppression. Daily we must remind ourselves of this truth and turn to this God in expectant prayer. Such acts of remembrance shape the way in which we face the ongoing struggle with sin in our lives.
Original Meaning
The Warrior God (76:4–6)
YOU ARE RADIANT WITH LIGHT. The psalmist continues the theme of God’s power in the next stanza of Psalm 76. The imagery of God’s being “radiant with light” (v. 4a) speaks of God’s great and unquestionable majesty.2
The picture is of a deity who burns more brightly than the dawning sun. His power is incomparable—even the inherent majesty of the mountains pales in comparison to it. Why they are mountains “rich with game” is something of a mystery, but the description may well refer to the known ancient Near Eastern image that often presented the divine Judge as a lion. The words used for “tent” and “dwelling place” in verse 2 can also refer to the lairs of wild animals,3
and the language of “breaking” (or perhaps more properly, “shattering”) the weapons of war (v. 3) is also commonly applied to the effect of a lion’s attack.4
So the reference to God as being “more majestic than mountains rich with game” may continue this leonine language. Mountains are inherently majestic, and the fact that they are filled with prey for the lion provides a link with the first stanza. But Israel’s God is by nature more glorious than the hills and stronger than the lion.
Not one of the warriors can lift his hands. The “hand” theme continues to run through these linked psalms. In the lament of Psalm 74, the people ask why God holds back his “hand” (v. 11). Psalm 75 responds with the voice of assurance that God will act in his time and that he holds the cup of judgment in his “hand” (vv. 2, 8). Psalm 76 inverts this imagery to emphasize the reality of the Creator’s awesome power. In Psalm 74 it is the armies of Babylon that are active and powerful, and the people lament Yahweh’s inactivity. In Psalm 76 the God who ends wars leaves rebellious armies devastated and powerless—to the extent that “not one of the warriors can lift his hands” (v. 5). Literally, the Hebrew says that they cannot “find” their hands. Far from being powerless, as was the fear of Psalm 74, God’s “rebuke” (or “battle cry”) is enough to leave those who would seek to prevent his will and purpose incapacitated with fear (v. 6). God’s word alone is capable of this effect without his even stirring his “hand” to activity.
Bridging Contexts
THE WARRIOR GOD. An image with which we are relatively unfamiliar in contemporary Christianity is the picture of God as the Warrior-Judge—a picture we see in Ps 76 and in other parts of the Old Testament.17
How does this square with the presentation of God as loving Father in the New Testament? We should be careful not to misrepresent God in one way or the other; rather, we should view his full character as it is represented in both of the Testaments. It has become a popular caricature that the God of the Old Testament is angry, judging, and war-like, whereas the God of the New Testament is peace-loving, gentle, and full of grace. Psalm 76, along with many passages of the Scriptures (in both the Old and New Testaments), testifies to the fact that both images of God faithfully reflect aspects of his character and being. The fact of the matter is that God is both Judge and Father—he is presented as such in the Old Testament, and his nature remains so in the New Testament.
A god who does not or cannot judge is not much of a god. Equally, a god who judges capriciously and out of spite is not to be trusted. In Psalm 76, however, the poet paints a picture of Israel’s God as the one who acts decisively in power when needed (vv. 3–10) but also as the God who meets with his people and dwells with them (vv. 1–2). He is the one who brings peace (vv. 3, 8) and justice to the afflicted (v. 9) and who expands his community of blessing to all who acknowledge him, regardless of their starting point (v. 10).
Why would we worship a god who did not care for the weak and oppressed? Why would we follow a god who was impotent to bring about his right purposes? If we are often appalled by the events we see around us, how much more is God horrified by these injustices? What sort of god would he be were he unable or unwilling to rectify wrongs? In a world that is often full of wickedness and oppression of the worst kind, the God who has revealed himself in the Scriptures sometimes breaks into our historical experience in warrior-like power in order to bring an end to abuse. Psalm 76 shows God as being lion-like in power, capable of bringing all violence to an abrupt end. The psalm, however, also shows that his aim in every display of power is the restoration of justice and right order to the earth. Why would we worship any other kind of god?
Psalm 76 in the New Testament. There are no direct citations from Ps 76 in the New Testament; however, the book of Revelation throws up a number of interesting images that bear striking similarity to the language and theology of this poem. Perhaps the most striking of these allusions is John’s reference to Jesus as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5). Just as Yahweh is presented as a lion-like Warrior-Judge, so the elders standing before God’s throne in heaven proclaim Jesus to be the lion of Judah who has triumphed and who holds the eternal destiny of humankind in his hands. The surprise factor, of course, is that when John looks to see this triumphant lion he actually sees a sacrificed lamb standing in the center of the throne (Rev 5:6). Once again, the New Testament uses Old Testament imagery to equate Jesus with Israel’s God. Just as Yahweh is the leonine victor of Psalm 76, so Jesus is also “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”—victorious in power even though that power was ultimately expressed in self-sacrifice. The book of Revelation also, however, points to the day when the Lion’s power will be displayed in judgment (Rev 6).
The other interesting connection between Psalm 76 and the close of the New Testament is the question of the incorporation of the nations into the worshiping community of Israel. If we follow the NIV footnote to verse 10, we see that human rebellion ultimately serves God’s purposes and results in the inclusion of a remnant of these “rebels” into the community of those who worship God. What is more, the psalmist repeatedly draws our attention to his presentation of God as the awesome, majestic King who is feared by the whole of the created order (vv. 4, 7–8, 11–12). It is interesting to compare Psalm 76’s presentation of Yahweh dwelling in Jerusalem in might and power with John’s presentation of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21–22. Psalm 76:11–12 presents the princes and leaders of the nations as making offerings of allegiance to Yahweh because of his indisputable power. The psalm closes with the words, “he is feared by the kings of the earth,” and we see an interesting parallel in the imagery of the New Jerusalem as a temple-city—“The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it” (Rev 21:24). Psalm 76 alludes to a day when Yahweh’s unquestionable authority leads the world’s powerbrokers to offer their allegiance to him. Revelation 21–22 points to the fulfillment of this imagery in the aftermath of the outworking of God’s final judgment on humanity.
Contemporary Significance
IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING. One of the key lessons from Psalm 76 is the importance of remembering God’s works in the past as we consider the challenges we face in the present. As we have charted the connections between Psalms 74–76, it has become apparent that Psalm 76 speaks in response to the crisis of the Babylonian exile. One element of the psalmist’s response to Israel’s present plight is to direct the people’s attention to God’s remarkable work of salvation in the past. Previously, God had miraculously relieved a siege of Jerusalem when the Assyrians attacked (2 Kgs 18–19), and the point of the psalmist’s reminder is quite simple: God had saved Jerusalem from an impossibly powerful military attack once before, and he is perfectly capable of doing so again; therefore, the fact that he stayed his hand in the present must be part of his purposes for his people. The reminder of God’s work in the past was designed to have an impact on the worshiping community’s perception of their present circumstances. The practice of remembering is a repeated theme in the Psalter and is one of the central ideas of Psalm 77, so we will consider the importance of remembrance in the life of faith as part of our discussion of the next psalm.
Christus Victor. “Christians using this psalm will think of Christus Victor, whose defeat of the powers of sin and death deepens hope in the sovereign God.”18
Psalm 76’s imagery of God as a lion-like Warrior defeating the enemies of his people has been a picture of great encouragement for many generations of faith. It remains so for us today. As James Mays suggests in the above quotation, the absolute victory of God grants us great assurance as people who still struggle with the effects of sin in our lives. It is important for us to realize that our continuing struggle with sin is waged not from a position of human weakness but from a position of divine power. The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:13–15:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Just as God’s victory over the Assyrians demonstrated his undeniably great power over all of the created order, so Christ’s victory over the powers of sin and Satan provides us with an unshakable salvation. Yes, we still struggle with sin, but our struggle is from the position of ultimate victory rather than from a position of weakness and defeat. Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers of evil that would keep us from coming to God—he triumphed over them by the cross. All such powers have been totally vanquished, and Christians today must remember that truth in our quest for holiness. The God who provides salvation for the oppressed (Ps 76:9) has provided just such a release for all those who find faith in Christ. Day by day it is important to remind ourselves that our struggle with temptation and sin is one in which victory has already been secured. In many ways, this victory over temptation comes down to a question of attitude. Often, due to our repeated failures, we feel weak in our struggle with temptation. Psalm 76 reminds us that the God whom we follow is the Warrior-Judge—the Lion springing forth from his lair—who destroys his people’s enemies and provides release from oppression. Daily we must remind ourselves of this truth and turn to this God in expectant prayer. Such acts of remembrance shape the way in which we face the ongoing struggle with sin in our lives.
Original Meaning
Awesome God (76:7–10)
YOU ALONE . . . ARE TO BE FEARED. The psalmist’s direct speech to God continues in the next stanza with another emphatic use of “you” (v. 7). There is probably something of a play on words in the Hebrew of this verse. The Hebrew word for “radiant with light” (naor [v. 4]) and the word for “to be feared” (nora) are very similar in appearance and sound, and both are linked to the pronoun “you.” These wordplays probably indicate the transition of stanzas and the beginning of a new theme.5
God is feared as Warrior in verses 4–6 and now he is to be feared as Judge. The Hebrew poetry is perhaps a little more emphatic than the translation found in the NIV and may be rendered, “You are to be feared, YOU!” The words of the psalmist explode with emphasis. The idea of a sovereign’s “being feared” in the ancient world was used in much the same way we would use the word “awesome.”6
The imagery of verse 7 tells the reader that any individual who might enter the real presence of God would simply be struck down by the inherently awesome reality of his being, especially were he to be seen when angry. The assurance for the reader is plain. The awesome power of God the Judge is unquestionable, even if at any given moment in time it is shrouded from the eyes of his people.7
From heaven you pronounced judgment. The NIV’s translation misses the symmetry of the parallelism in verse 8.8
The first line of the parallelism declares the divine pronouncement of judgment “from heaven.” The second part of the parallelism shows the response of absolute silence “on earth.” The Hebrew word translated as “the land” (’erets) in verse 8 can mean either “the land” or “the earth” as a whole. With the divine pronouncement coming from heaven, a parallel reading seems to suggest that it was not the land that feared and was silent; rather, the whole earth feared and was silent before Yahweh’s declaration of judgment.9
Once again, the imagery speaks of the earth’s humble and awestruck response to the majestic power of the living God. Whenever God speaks his decree from heaven, the earthly response is not to debate its merits; rather, the earth is hushed to silence by the inherent power and wisdom of the divine word and waits in silence for the outworking of divine justice.
When you, God, rose up to judge. Again, the psalmist’s reminder probably refers to Yahweh’s miraculous relief of the Assyrian crisis during the reign of Hezekiah. The people were in a situation that was beyond all human hope. There was nothing they could do to save themselves from the massed armies of the Assyrians, who were famed for their brutality and mercilessness in war. As far as Jerusalem was concerned, the siege was set, and nothing but suffering and death awaited them. This outcome would have been their reality had it not been for the fact that the God who made Jerusalem his dwelling place rose up to judge (2 Kgs 19:35–36). This historical reminder would, of course, be poignant for a people responding to the crisis of exile. In their relatively recent past, God had risen in power to save them from military oppression—the reminder for a lamenting people is that, in working out his justice, their God is capable of saving his people again.
While the statement of Psalm 76:9 may well refer to the concrete historical setting of the Assyrian crisis of 701 BCE, we must never forget that the poetry of the Psalter has become generalized so that the lessons learned from concrete historical events can be reapplied to a wide variety of settings.10
So in reminding the reader of what God did in 701 BCE outside the gates of Jerusalem, the psalmist is also making a general point applicable in all times and all places. Just as God judged in power, so the reader should be aware that God judges in power. A general principle is derived from a specific event.
To save all the afflicted of the land. It is interesting to note the objective of God’s miraculous intervention in the events of humankind. God’s judgment “aims at putting an end to violence and the misery from which ‘all the poor of the earth’ suffer.”11
The working of God’s justice is never capricious or nasty. The aim is always to bring peace and restore righteousness on the earth. In the context of the Assyrian crisis, “the afflicted of the land” would refer to the many thousands of innocents who would suffer as a result of the siege of the city. But once again, this principle also can be generalized to describe the way in which Yahweh works as a matter of course. His spoken judgment reflects his declared will and purpose for the right ordering of the earth in which we live. His active judgment serves these ends. In accordance with his nature, God works to end violence, bring wholeness, and restore the oppressed.
Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise. Psalm 76:10 is a difficult verse to translate, but the NIV’s footnote probably gives the better rendering of the Hebrew (“Surely the wrath of mankind brings you praise, /and with the remainder of wrath you arm yourself.”). At this point the verse seems to be talking about human wrath rather than God’s, and it gives a different perspective on the machinations of men. In the light of the preceding verses the psalmist is indicating that, ultimately, the anger-filled rebellion of humankind serves God’s purposes by giving scope for the full display of his sovereign power. When God does so, those who rebel against Yahweh are ultimately compelled to confess his greatness.
[God’s wrath] is also, however, the expression of a militant readiness to bring to reality his universal royal rule, especially against the nations and individuals who oppose it. To that extent divine wrath is not aimed at destruction, but at changing, indeed transforming, the “enemies of God.”12
God’s righteous judgment, forcefully worked out in historical reality, is a sign that points even those who reject him to the greatness and reality of his being. “No-one can resist God when he appears as Warrior to judge his enemies.”13
The second line of this parallelism refers to God’s girding or binding “the survivors of your wrath” to himself. Once again, the Hebrew here is quite difficult to translate; therefore, it is difficult to arrive at the intended meaning of this text with absolute certainty. As with the preceding line of this parallelism, however, it seems that the translation offered in the footnotes of the NIV is probably closer to the truth. “And with the remainder of wrath you arm yourself” is probably a reference to the work of transformation that occurs when Yahweh’s enemies are confronted with his glory in Zion. This feature occurs commonly within the psalms celebrating Zion: the expectation that those who rebel against God and his people will somehow be transformed by a dawning realization of his unquestionable presence and power when faced with his glory in Jerusalem (e.g., see Pss 46:8–10; 48:4–7; 72:8–11; also Isa 60; 66:18–24). The powerful implication of this verse is that ultimately the angry rebellion of humankind brings glory to God and will also result in the radical metamorphosis of some to allegiance to Yahweh. Eaton comments that “mankind is won from rebellion to worship God in thanksgiving. Verse 10b then follows with the thought that God girds on the saved people as a garment in closeness to him (cf. Jer 13).”14
The point of this verse seems to be that not only does God save his own people by bringing human rebellion to an end but in doing so he also brings about the transformation of those very people who rebel against him.
Bridging Contexts
THE WARRIOR GOD. An image with which we are relatively unfamiliar in contemporary Christianity is the picture of God as the Warrior-Judge—a picture we see in Ps 76 and in other parts of the Old Testament.17
How does this square with the presentation of God as loving Father in the New Testament? We should be careful not to misrepresent God in one way or the other; rather, we should view his full character as it is represented in both of the Testaments. It has become a popular caricature that the God of the Old Testament is angry, judging, and war-like, whereas the God of the New Testament is peace-loving, gentle, and full of grace. Psalm 76, along with many passages of the Scriptures (in both the Old and New Testaments), testifies to the fact that both images of God faithfully reflect aspects of his character and being. The fact of the matter is that God is both Judge and Father—he is presented as such in the Old Testament, and his nature remains so in the New Testament.
A god who does not or cannot judge is not much of a god. Equally, a god who judges capriciously and out of spite is not to be trusted. In Psalm 76, however, the poet paints a picture of Israel’s God as the one who acts decisively in power when needed (vv. 3–10) but also as the God who meets with his people and dwells with them (vv. 1–2). He is the one who brings peace (vv. 3, 8) and justice to the afflicted (v. 9) and who expands his community of blessing to all who acknowledge him, regardless of their starting point (v. 10).
Why would we worship a god who did not care for the weak and oppressed? Why would we follow a god who was impotent to bring about his right purposes? If we are often appalled by the events we see around us, how much more is God horrified by these injustices? What sort of god would he be were he unable or unwilling to rectify wrongs? In a world that is often full of wickedness and oppression of the worst kind, the God who has revealed himself in the Scriptures sometimes breaks into our historical experience in warrior-like power in order to bring an end to abuse. Psalm 76 shows God as being lion-like in power, capable of bringing all violence to an abrupt end. The psalm, however, also shows that his aim in every display of power is the restoration of justice and right order to the earth. Why would we worship any other kind of god?
Psalm 76 in the New Testament. There are no direct citations from Ps 76 in the New Testament; however, the book of Revelation throws up a number of interesting images that bear striking similarity to the language and theology of this poem. Perhaps the most striking of these allusions is John’s reference to Jesus as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5). Just as Yahweh is presented as a lion-like Warrior-Judge, so the elders standing before God’s throne in heaven proclaim Jesus to be the lion of Judah who has triumphed and who holds the eternal destiny of humankind in his hands. The surprise factor, of course, is that when John looks to see this triumphant lion he actually sees a sacrificed lamb standing in the center of the throne (Rev 5:6). Once again, the New Testament uses Old Testament imagery to equate Jesus with Israel’s God. Just as Yahweh is the leonine victor of Psalm 76, so Jesus is also “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”—victorious in power even though that power was ultimately expressed in self-sacrifice. The book of Revelation also, however, points to the day when the Lion’s power will be displayed in judgment (Rev 6).
The other interesting connection between Psalm 76 and the close of the New Testament is the question of the incorporation of the nations into the worshiping community of Israel. If we follow the NIV footnote to verse 10, we see that human rebellion ultimately serves God’s purposes and results in the inclusion of a remnant of these “rebels” into the community of those who worship God. What is more, the psalmist repeatedly draws our attention to his presentation of God as the awesome, majestic King who is feared by the whole of the created order (vv. 4, 7–8, 11–12). It is interesting to compare Psalm 76’s presentation of Yahweh dwelling in Jerusalem in might and power with John’s presentation of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21–22. Psalm 76:11–12 presents the princes and leaders of the nations as making offerings of allegiance to Yahweh because of his indisputable power. The psalm closes with the words, “he is feared by the kings of the earth,” and we see an interesting parallel in the imagery of the New Jerusalem as a temple-city—“The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it” (Rev 21:24). Psalm 76 alludes to a day when Yahweh’s unquestionable authority leads the world’s powerbrokers to offer their allegiance to him. Revelation 21–22 points to the fulfillment of this imagery in the aftermath of the outworking of God’s final judgment on humanity.
Contemporary Significance
IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING. One of the key lessons from Psalm 76 is the importance of remembering God’s works in the past as we consider the challenges we face in the present. As we have charted the connections between Psalms 74–76, it has become apparent that Psalm 76 speaks in response to the crisis of the Babylonian exile. One element of the psalmist’s response to Israel’s present plight is to direct the people’s attention to God’s remarkable work of salvation in the past. Previously, God had miraculously relieved a siege of Jerusalem when the Assyrians attacked (2 Kgs 18–19), and the point of the psalmist’s reminder is quite simple: God had saved Jerusalem from an impossibly powerful military attack once before, and he is perfectly capable of doing so again; therefore, the fact that he stayed his hand in the present must be part of his purposes for his people. The reminder of God’s work in the past was designed to have an impact on the worshiping community’s perception of their present circumstances. The practice of remembering is a repeated theme in the Psalter and is one of the central ideas of Psalm 77, so we will consider the importance of remembrance in the life of faith as part of our discussion of the next psalm.
Christus Victor. “Christians using this psalm will think of Christus Victor, whose defeat of the powers of sin and death deepens hope in the sovereign God.”18
Psalm 76’s imagery of God as a lion-like Warrior defeating the enemies of his people has been a picture of great encouragement for many generations of faith. It remains so for us today. As James Mays suggests in the above quotation, the absolute victory of God grants us great assurance as people who still struggle with the effects of sin in our lives. It is important for us to realize that our continuing struggle with sin is waged not from a position of human weakness but from a position of divine power. The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:13–15:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Just as God’s victory over the Assyrians demonstrated his undeniably great power over all of the created order, so Christ’s victory over the powers of sin and Satan provides us with an unshakable salvation. Yes, we still struggle with sin, but our struggle is from the position of ultimate victory rather than from a position of weakness and defeat. Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers of evil that would keep us from coming to God—he triumphed over them by the cross. All such powers have been totally vanquished, and Christians today must remember that truth in our quest for holiness. The God who provides salvation for the oppressed (Ps 76:9) has provided just such a release for all those who find faith in Christ. Day by day it is important to remind ourselves that our struggle with temptation and sin is one in which victory has already been secured. In many ways, this victory over temptation comes down to a question of attitude. Often, due to our repeated failures, we feel weak in our struggle with temptation. Psalm 76 reminds us that the God whom we follow is the Warrior-Judge—the Lion springing forth from his lair—who destroys his people’s enemies and provides release from oppression. Daily we must remind ourselves of this truth and turn to this God in expectant prayer. Such acts of remembrance shape the way in which we face the ongoing struggle with sin in our lives.
Original Meaning
Responding to the Awesome God (76:11–12)
THE CLOSING TWO VERSES OF PSALM 76 address the question of response to such a God. The first three stanzas of the psalm speak about God as Warrior and Judge, the one who ends all wars and rebellion. This final stanza sets out to answer the question of how we respond to such a God.
Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them. The fourth stanza is marked by a change from direct speech to God to direct speech to the reader. The reminder is a poignant one: Given that the God who rules the universe is this leonine Warrior Judge, be careful how you respond to him! As creatures we have an obligation toward our Creator. The psalmist warns us that we should be diligent in responding properly to the Warrior God. It is interesting to consider who is addressed in this command. Most naturally, of course, the phrase “the LORD your God” seems to indicate that Israel is in the psalmist’s mind when he commands fealty to God.15
The universal implications of verse 10 should not be ignored, however. If the psalmist envisions a remnant from the rebellious nations as ultimately coming to offer allegiance to God, then the extent of this command in the following verse surely must encompass that remnant as well as Israel. In fact, such a command makes sense with an expanded worshiping community in mind. The divine name, Yahweh, appears for the first time in verse 11 as a reminder to Israel and as instruction to the nations that there is only one true God and that he alone is worthy of our gifts of tribute.16
The more universal aspect of this command is accentuated in verse 11b, where it is the people of neighboring lands who bring their tribute to God, thus acknowledging that he (i.e., not their own gods) is the one to be feared.
He is feared by the kings of the earth. Psalm 76:12 provides an interesting counterpart to verse 1. The first verse of the poem acknowledges that God’s revealed character is known in Judah and that his name is great in Israel. But here at the close of the psalm, “the kings of the earth” fear Yahweh. Continuing the eschatological Zion theology of the psalm, verse 12 foresees the day when all the rulers of the earth will acknowledge the undisputed greatness of Israel’s God. As is so often the way in the Old Testament, the particular expands to the universal. Israel’s acknowledgment of God’s greatness serves a purpose; namely, that one day all the nations of the earth will see and acknowledge God’s greatness.
Bridging Contexts
THE WARRIOR GOD. An image with which we are relatively unfamiliar in contemporary Christianity is the picture of God as the Warrior-Judge—a picture we see in Ps 76 and in other parts of the Old Testament.17
How does this square with the presentation of God as loving Father in the New Testament? We should be careful not to misrepresent God in one way or the other; rather, we should view his full character as it is represented in both of the Testaments. It has become a popular caricature that the God of the Old Testament is angry, judging, and war-like, whereas the God of the New Testament is peace-loving, gentle, and full of grace. Psalm 76, along with many passages of the Scriptures (in both the Old and New Testaments), testifies to the fact that both images of God faithfully reflect aspects of his character and being. The fact of the matter is that God is both Judge and Father—he is presented as such in the Old Testament, and his nature remains so in the New Testament.
A god who does not or cannot judge is not much of a god. Equally, a god who judges capriciously and out of spite is not to be trusted. In Psalm 76, however, the poet paints a picture of Israel’s God as the one who acts decisively in power when needed (vv. 3–10) but also as the God who meets with his people and dwells with them (vv. 1–2). He is the one who brings peace (vv. 3, 8) and justice to the afflicted (v. 9) and who expands his community of blessing to all who acknowledge him, regardless of their starting point (v. 10).
Why would we worship a god who did not care for the weak and oppressed? Why would we follow a god who was impotent to bring about his right purposes? If we are often appalled by the events we see around us, how much more is God horrified by these injustices? What sort of god would he be were he unable or unwilling to rectify wrongs? In a world that is often full of wickedness and oppression of the worst kind, the God who has revealed himself in the Scriptures sometimes breaks into our historical experience in warrior-like power in order to bring an end to abuse. Psalm 76 shows God as being lion-like in power, capable of bringing all violence to an abrupt end. The psalm, however, also shows that his aim in every display of power is the restoration of justice and right order to the earth. Why would we worship any other kind of god?
Psalm 76 in the New Testament. There are no direct citations from Ps 76 in the New Testament; however, the book of Revelation throws up a number of interesting images that bear striking similarity to the language and theology of this poem. Perhaps the most striking of these allusions is John’s reference to Jesus as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5). Just as Yahweh is presented as a lion-like Warrior-Judge, so the elders standing before God’s throne in heaven proclaim Jesus to be the lion of Judah who has triumphed and who holds the eternal destiny of humankind in his hands. The surprise factor, of course, is that when John looks to see this triumphant lion he actually sees a sacrificed lamb standing in the center of the throne (Rev 5:6). Once again, the New Testament uses Old Testament imagery to equate Jesus with Israel’s God. Just as Yahweh is the leonine victor of Psalm 76, so Jesus is also “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”—victorious in power even though that power was ultimately expressed in self-sacrifice. The book of Revelation also, however, points to the day when the Lion’s power will be displayed in judgment (Rev 6).
The other interesting connection between Psalm 76 and the close of the New Testament is the question of the incorporation of the nations into the worshiping community of Israel. If we follow the NIV footnote to verse 10, we see that human rebellion ultimately serves God’s purposes and results in the inclusion of a remnant of these “rebels” into the community of those who worship God. What is more, the psalmist repeatedly draws our attention to his presentation of God as the awesome, majestic King who is feared by the whole of the created order (vv. 4, 7–8, 11–12). It is interesting to compare Psalm 76’s presentation of Yahweh dwelling in Jerusalem in might and power with John’s presentation of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21–22. Psalm 76:11–12 presents the princes and leaders of the nations as making offerings of allegiance to Yahweh because of his indisputable power. The psalm closes with the words, “he is feared by the kings of the earth,” and we see an interesting parallel in the imagery of the New Jerusalem as a temple-city—“The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it” (Rev 21:24). Psalm 76 alludes to a day when Yahweh’s unquestionable authority leads the world’s powerbrokers to offer their allegiance to him. Revelation 21–22 points to the fulfillment of this imagery in the aftermath of the outworking of God’s final judgment on humanity.
Contemporary Significance
IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING. One of the key lessons from Psalm 76 is the importance of remembering God’s works in the past as we consider the challenges we face in the present. As we have charted the connections between Psalms 74–76, it has become apparent that Psalm 76 speaks in response to the crisis of the Babylonian exile. One element of the psalmist’s response to Israel’s present plight is to direct the people’s attention to God’s remarkable work of salvation in the past. Previously, God had miraculously relieved a siege of Jerusalem when the Assyrians attacked (2 Kgs 18–19), and the point of the psalmist’s reminder is quite simple: God had saved Jerusalem from an impossibly powerful military attack once before, and he is perfectly capable of doing so again; therefore, the fact that he stayed his hand in the present must be part of his purposes for his people. The reminder of God’s work in the past was designed to have an impact on the worshiping community’s perception of their present circumstances. The practice of remembering is a repeated theme in the Psalter and is one of the central ideas of Psalm 77, so we will consider the importance of remembrance in the life of faith as part of our discussion of the next psalm.
Christus Victor. “Christians using this psalm will think of Christus Victor, whose defeat of the powers of sin and death deepens hope in the sovereign God.”18
Psalm 76’s imagery of God as a lion-like Warrior defeating the enemies of his people has been a picture of great encouragement for many generations of faith. It remains so for us today. As James Mays suggests in the above quotation, the absolute victory of God grants us great assurance as people who still struggle with the effects of sin in our lives. It is important for us to realize that our continuing struggle with sin is waged not from a position of human weakness but from a position of divine power. The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:13–15:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Just as God’s victory over the Assyrians demonstrated his undeniably great power over all of the created order, so Christ’s victory over the powers of sin and Satan provides us with an unshakable salvation. Yes, we still struggle with sin, but our struggle is from the position of ultimate victory rather than from a position of weakness and defeat. Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers of evil that would keep us from coming to God—he triumphed over them by the cross. All such powers have been totally vanquished, and Christians today must remember that truth in our quest for holiness. The God who provides salvation for the oppressed (Ps 76:9) has provided just such a release for all those who find faith in Christ. Day by day it is important to remind ourselves that our struggle with temptation and sin is one in which victory has already been secured. In many ways, this victory over temptation comes down to a question of attitude. Often, due to our repeated failures, we feel weak in our struggle with temptation. Psalm 76 reminds us that the God whom we follow is the Warrior-Judge—the Lion springing forth from his lair—who destroys his people’s enemies and provides release from oppression. Daily we must remind ourselves of this truth and turn to this God in expectant prayer. Such acts of remembrance shape the way in which we face the ongoing struggle with sin in our lives.
